Raven's Song
by PaintingInTheAttic
Summary: A story about Raven's day to day life and her reaction to Robin's strange behavior.
1. Chapter 1

**A story:**

Raven mewed sometimes, as might a cat on a rainy day. The other titans did not know this. She did not allow them to. Cyborg had discovered this once when she fell asleep working to help fix his car. He had been carrying the exhausted demoness up to her room when Raven awoke and, not being fully aware of her surroundings, coyly mewed in his arms. Cyborg had thought it to be the cutest thing ever. Naturally Raven had to sneak into his room that night and reboot his memory systems so that he would never repeat the information to another soul. It was a messy proposition and she was not proud of it. But she had her pride to think of, and its not as though its the first time she'd ever pulled one over on him.

It was morning time. Raven knew this not because of her bedside clock but because she could sense Starfire's unbridled joy of seeing the sunrise emanating from several rooms over. She mewed and pulled the covers back over her begging for a few more minutes. No such luck though. It seemed that today would be the one time her alarm remembered to go slap her awake.

Raven carried herself out of bed. Her room was dark and brooding, but it barely registered on her. After seeing the same things day after day, she tended to spend less and less time looking at them. Appreciating them. It bothered her that such significant and meaningful artifacts were within her reach everyday but could draw from her the same inspiration they once did. Yet she could think of no remedy for it and the problem was much too insignificant to care for anyways.

Raven pulled out her leotard from the places where it was pinching in on her and lamented her decision to take the last slice of pizza the night before. She examined herself in the mirror and woefully confirmed that she was indeed getting pudgy in a few places. If this continued, she may have to go shopping for leopards the next size up. Or..., Raven thought creatively, or I could just be more careful in hiding myself behind my cloak. I doubt any of the boys will notice anyways.

She smiled, or rather, she stopped frowning so intensely.

-I won't need to change at all then, she said to herself. Vaguely happy with this little workaround, Raven grabbed her favorite blue cloak and artfully draped it around her. She then pulled on a pair blue boots, the cozier ones today for she planned on lazing the day away at her favorite coffee shop with a couple of good books.

Out into the city she went. It was a Saturday, but far too early in the day for any would be crowds in the street. The sun was blinding, the wind ravishing, so Raven took a firm grip on her hood and continued onward. A quaintly dressed young mother approached on her right. Her peachy faced baby was swaddled in various layers of blue and slept quite peacefully in the mother's arms despite the weather. Raven nodded at them as they passed each other, but exchanged no words.

A thought presented itself to Raven then, of a some primal beast tearing through the city walls and striking its claws through the happy young mother. If that happened, postulated Raven, then I'd of course have to drop all my books and dive to retrieve the blue swaddled baby. I'd escape then, she thought, and be the hero... Raven shook the thought out of her mind.

-I suppose that would be tragic if it were to actually happen, she murmured. Raven glanced back at the young mother again. The girl's hips swayed rhythmically with her gait. She seemed to not have a care in the world, and yet she also had an aura of absurd worries clinging about her. I do not wish to switch places with her after all, thought Raven.

Raven pushed through the revolving doors of Cafe Miasma. It was quite empty for a coffee shop in the morning, but that was no surprise for this particular hole in the wall. The disinterested bistro yawned to acknowledge the presence of a customer and flipped the page of his newspaper. Raven approached him.

-Black coffee. Raven pointed to a basket on the far side of the counter. Are those blueberry scones, there?

-Boysenberry I think.

-Give me two of those too.

-Yes ma'am.

Raven surveyed the bistros movements as she waited. He was quite ugly, a bit awkward in his mannerisms too. With a twinge of guilt, she wondered if he might be handicapped in some way. She meekly averted her gaze when he turned around with her order.

-That'll be $5.32 please.

Raven produced a ten dollar bill from within her stack of books and handed it to the boy. Raven watched patiently as he counted out her change. Was he a mild autist perhaps? Yes, that must be it, thought Raven to herself.

-Your change ma'am. Raven blushed slightly as the boy poured the change into her open palm. He had hovered his hand dangerously close to her own as he made the transaction, yet still managed to fumble a few coins on the exchange. Raven waved off his help and used her powers to gather all the change into the tip jar. The boy smiled at this and thanked her profusely.

-Too much to carry around anyways, she demurred.

Raven found herself a seat in a corner booth and her drink and pastries followed behind her, each outlined by a dark aura. The bistro pretended not to be impressed by this. Raven cracked open the top book on her pile and found her place in it. It was a romance novel, but Raven still had some faith that the love interest would die before the third act in it. Would be too depressing to finish otherwise.

A ringing on her communicator. Raven set down the open book next to her uneaten scones, and calmly withdrew her communicator. It was Robin.

-Hello.

-Raven, where are you? I've been looking all over.

-Is something the matter? Raven became aware of an intense pounding sensation beginning to take root in her heart.

-Yes, something is the matter. You promised me you'd help me code break some of Slade's documents.

Raven had no recollection of making this promise.

-Oh yeah right, sorry. I overslept. I'll be there as soon as I get dressed.

Some static on the other side and then:

-Good, I'll set up the documents we've gathered. See you soon.

Raven put aside the communicator and took a bite out of her scone. There was no rush. She could take her time eating the scones and sipping on the coffee and still teleport back with time enough to meet Robin. Besides, she thought as she brushed the crumbs off her lips, Robin wouldn't say boo even if I was late. He's lost his edge toward me lately. This whole Slade business must really be getting to him.


	2. Chapter 2

The conference room was not an inviting one. It did not intend to be one. The tables were of a cold metal, the walls much the same. The intruding light was ample. Not enough to keep a tired man awake, but enough to retain a studious man's focus. A throng of manila folders lay open upon the tables. Each containing its fair share of confidential papers ranging from uninterested photos of concrete structures to audacious collections of numbers and foreign symbols. Greek perhaps, but written by a flourishing hand and thus could lend themselves to many interpretations.

Robin stood watch over them. He had adopted a wide stance, his body leaning forward over the edge of the table, and his hands folded patiently upon the cold metal. Raven was very late. This did not bother Robin, it gave him more time to prepare. Admittedly, this anxiety was not something one ever grows used to.

-Hope I didn't make you wait too long.

The doors had not opened. A black portal faded off the wall instead. Neither made any mention of this phenomenon.

-Not at all. I just finished setting up the papers. It was an obvious lie. Raven could sense these things, but felt no need to embarrass the boy.

-Good. Raven did a walk over of the table. Then another one, slower this time. These are all stolen from Slade's base?

-And a few more clues he's left for us since then. They might be connected, or they might be red herrings. There's simply no way to know.

Robin walked over to look at one particular file which had captured Raven's attention. Raven sucked in her stomach as he walked past, but they did not brush against each other the slightest bit. Worth the risk, thought Raven.

Robin, meanwhile, was standing close enough to smell Raven's perfume. Coffee beans, he noted. It suits her to wear such an audacious choice of perfume, he thought.

-Stop sniffing me.

-You were out today.

-This file looks interesting. It wasn't, but they both pretended it to be so for the sake of a change of subject.

Raven tried to think of something to say. Nothing came to mind, unfortunately. Save for a few quips about how difficult small talk was or a couple of corny jokes she had stolen from Beastboy. Neither seemed secure enough topics to start a promising conversation. Still the silence was tangible and she felt something had to be said.

-This picture looks to be of a mountain.

Robin gave her a confused look. The picture indeed was of a mountain, one could see that plainly. What's more, there were no other confounding objects in frame to give the photo any interest at all.

-Ok then, do you think it is of any importance?

Raven dropped the picture flatly on the table. It was clearly unrelated to any potential leads. In her opinion, it was a wonder why it was even included in the reports at all. Still, she loathed to think of herself blurting out something so stupid in front of Robin.

-It must be. I have a good feeling about it.

-Hm. Well, its not too far from us. We can go investigate the location for ourselves without killing too much of the day. Let's go.

Robin walked briskly out the conference room. Raven followed behind, leaving within the same swing of the door. Has Robin really become so paranoid about Slade that he'd even believe such sparce evidence, she wondered. Or does he simply hold such a lofty opinion of my insights?

* * *

I should have worn my hiking boots today, thought Raven as they trekked over the fallen foiliage and she said as much to Robin to drive away the quiet.

-Why don't you just fly then? Asked Robin calmly. Though he was not short of breath, Raven could see from the great rising and falling of his chest that the climb was taking a tax on him.

Because disconnecting from the Earth is a lousy way to spend a Saturday. Moreover, we can be more connected if we both walk the same ground.

-I dunno. Don't feel like it I guess.

Robin grunted as if to say: Well, whatever floats your boat.

The two approached a clearing in the mountain.

-This looks to be the section of the rock face where the picture was taken, noted Robin.

-We should look around here for, uh, clues then. With luck, she thought, Slade might actually show up.

Robin took great effort to contemplate every detail of their surroundings. Raven preoccupied herself in following some raccoon tracks. They winded down to a nearby mountain stream and coalesced around the root system of a tree overrun by disease. Raven sensed the raccoon family resting within the burrow. She wondered whether it'd be too cruel to wake them.

Minutes later Raven had used her powers to convince the peckish raccoons to put on a little show for her. She intended it to be a tragic love story, but the littlest of the five would have to play seven parts with three different accents but Raven was convinced that the precious little guy could pull it off. He might get pretty ticked if he were to wake up though.

-Wouldn't this constitute cruelty? Raven spared no time in identifying this new voice, muffled behind some mask. She reacted slowly, so as not to disturb her beaming puppets. Though she knew it was wrong, she had to a wager a guess anyways.

-Slade?

At this Red X took offense.

-Am I not good enough a playmate for you anymore?

Raven rose to her feet and returned the raccoons to their burrow. She then pivoted and swung her left foot at the felon's neck. It was caught by Red X's hands and stuck in that position as if trapped in a block of peanut-butter. She jumped up and aimed to follow up the attack with a series of short kicks to his midsection, but Red X released his grip and retreated a few paces leaving her only air to strike.

-You've gotten slow Raven.

Raven swept back her cloak and lowered into a tighter fighting stance. Already she was short of breath from the hike, but she was determined to settle this without her powers. She didn't know why exactly, she just took a certain pride in imposing handicaps on herself from time to time.

-Robin will be here soon. Let him at least think your in league with Slade will ya? As Raven said this, she took careful steps to close the distance between them. Red X laughed cheekily.

-Okay, but you'll owe me one.


	3. Chapter 3

Raven saw Robin rapidly approaching them, so she retreated a few paces to meet him. Red X too, moved to create some added distance between his foes and himself.

-What are you doing here? Shouted Robin as he twirled out his bo staff.

-I see your obsession with Slade is still consuming the dwindling heaps of time remaining in your life. Chuffed Red X cheekily. Did you really expect to find him so easily?

Raven could sense Robin's frustration and so whispered to him, telling him to calm down.

He evidently did not hear her, for just moments later Robin had exploded forward to confront the villain. Raven, understanding his motives, resigned herself to following him into battle.

Raven circled closely around the sparring masters, waiting for an opportunity to jump in. Yet, Red X surrendered no weaknesses and skilfully wrested Robin in between them whenever she tried to advance. As such, there was nothing to do but drive her body through Robin's to complete the attack or give in and use her powers to land the hit.

Steeped in determination, Raven glimpsed an opening when Red X, during the course of his hand-fighting with Robin, had pivoted into exceedingly narrow stance. Fearlessly, she lowered her shoulders and bull-rushed the two fighters hoping to knock Red X off his balance. It was not until momentum had carried her within inches of Red X that she saw Robin flying in to attempt the same move.

Robin reached the culprit faster though, and the force of his attack was enough to sweep Red X off his feet and drive him into the twigs and mud of the mountainside. Or at least it would have been, if midway through the hit Raven had not done the same to him.

The two toppled over each other like a pair of clumsy koalas. Red X, meanwhile, had had his fun and was leaping away to safety. Though he did take special care to turn back and say one last quip.

-I'd be happy to stay and play with you some more, my lovelies, but I'm afraid I'm just a bit to busy to pass the time watching the clouds with you. I think you two could get on without me for awhile, anyways.

Robin let out disgruntled utterance of dismay at letting their only lead in the case escape. Raven registered the sound he emitted as a cross between the whiny shrill of a trumpeting elephant and the deep groaning which wafts forth from Gehenna sea of tortured souls. Raven muttered a small apology for her mishandling of the situation.

-Sorry.

Presently, Raven laid covering Robin as result of tackling him. The staggered warmth of his breath upon her cheek and the assumed rage beneath his mask compelled her to pull away from him. But not too far, for Raven knew Robin well. And thus, she knew that he acted impetuously in cases revolving around Slade and doubly so whenever Red X too was involved. Slowly, such as not to upset an sleeping lion cub or a pressure sensitive mine, Raven pulled herself into a sitting position.

-Mistakes happen, submitted Robin calmly and though he was still evidently livid at Red X's escape. He made no moves except a sort of rapidly onset idiosyncrasy in which he repeated clenched and released handfuls of the soil beside him.

Must be some sort of anger management technique thought Raven as she lifted herself off him. She reached forward to offer Robin a hand, but a wave of paranoia swept over her and she retreated. Oh no, she panicked. Straddling Robin like that..., taking so long to get off of him..., Robin will surely think. I mean he must have noticed that...

Raven pulled cocooned her cloak around her and glanced Robin. He was regaining his footing and shooting her a perplexed look for jerking away so suddenly. Or perhaps, continued Raven's inner voices, he noticed those extra pounds you've put on. Under the guise of her cloak, Raven ran a hand over her stomach to check how pudgy it had become.

-Yes, utterly unmistakable; she whispered breathlessly.

Meanwhile, Robin's attention was consumed by Red X's escape route, or rather lack thereof. Not a single footprint was perceptible nor any foliage broken anywhere. The would be no chance of chasing him down. After coming all this way, there'd be nothing to show for it.

-Well, this is rather embarrassing, said Robin candidly.

-Yes, replied Raven bluntly. I think I would prefer that you don't speak a word of it to anyone.

-Me too, sighed Robin. But I think we both now I have to put it down in the written report...

Robin was cut off by the high velocity violet boot which came in like a missile aiming to take his head off, and it probably would have too had he not been able to roll with the hit. As it was, he landed flat on his back once more. Before he could even question what happened he felt a dark shadow sully over him.

-Perhaps I did not make my self clear earlier, threatened Raven as Robin struggled against her magic. You will not mention this ever.

Robin just barely managed to choke out the affirmative statement necessary to gain his release. Having done that, he collapsed to a fetal position, panting.

-And don't worry too much about it, Robin. Let's train together in the gym this week to ensure nothing of the sort ever happens again.

With that, Raven departed; leaving an exasperated, and perhaps a little frightened, Robin in her wake.


End file.
